Fate
by Curlypubes
Summary: Its funny how one action can spark so many different actions. Aaron's story with a few twists and turns.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"10:30! Shit. Cain is going to kill me". Aaron hopped out of bed, grabbed his keys and other daily essentials, slipped on his overalls and darted out the door. He usually set his alarm clock every night before he went to bed but his mind was so out of it last night after he returned home from town with Eli. He was that close to going into the gay bar, but there was no way in hell he would do it with Eli around. Aaron would only take the plunge if he knew all circumstances were on his side.

"Heya mate, hows it going?" Adam said, approaching Aaron from behind the café door to his right.

"Sorry mate, no time, late for work, gotta run." Aaron said, sliding past Adam and kicking the door back open with his foot. Adam's voice stopped him just before he got out the door.

"Wait, you coming to the Woolie tonight? It's Scarlett's birthday so everyone is going to be there."

"Ooh, me and Scarlett, think I'll pass, sorry mate", and with that he turned quickly to sprint to the garage before Cain ripped his head off, but alas fate was just not on his side. His quick movements caused him to bump into Jai who was initially trying to get by Aaron to get into the café . On collision, Aaron spilled his coffee all over Jai's shirt which seeped down to his slacks.

"Ouch, oh God that's hot" Jai squeeled, jumping up and down as if that would relieve the pain.

"Oh my God mate I'm so sorry. But I'm in a hurry, sorry again yeah, I'll buy you a pint sometime". Aaron jolted across to the garage, quickly disregarding the fact that he had just scolded Jai and then left him.

"Oh my, here let me get you a towel" Viv said to Jai as he entered, who subsequently sat down beside Adam and gave his order to Brenda. He thanked Viv when she gave him the towel.

"Bloody hell I have an important meeting in an hour, I can't go like this. I'm going to have to drop this off at the dry cleaners, which means I'll have to reschedule my eye appointment later", Jai was just muttering to himself but of course the village gossips were listening to every word he said.

"Eye appointment? How come?" Viv asked curiously.

"I've got terrible eyesight, didn't want to admit it but it's getting worse I think. So I might invest in getting laser eye surgeory. Anyway I can schedule that for later, but now that means I won't be able to meet with my builder later on, so now I'm going to have to shift that to tomorow." Jai turned to Adam and said "Never invest in your own business kid, far too much work. To be honest, I'd prefer to be prodding cows and driving around on that quad thing you drive anyday over all these meetings and appointments." Adam smiled and Jai returned to his own world, taking out his phone to rearrange his appointment with his builder.

Luckily for Aaron, Cain wasn't even at the garage, only Ryan, although he bickered at Aaron for the first few minutes, complaining about doing all the work himself.

"Hey Aaron, would you mind finishing off this car and then that one over there if you can, I've gotta head into Hotten and pick up some stuff for the new place. I'll take over your shift tomorow morning, so you don't have to be worrying about coming in late. And it means you can head to Scarlett's birthday tonight then"

Aaron didn't bother debating the fact he wasn't going to Scarlett's, he just nodded his agreement and saw Ryan off. He finished both cars Ryan had asked him to do, earlier than expected, so made his way back to Smithy.

"Alright Paddy, you up for movie night tonight? I'm dying to see Resevoir Dogs. I'll rent it out and you can buy the beer, yeah? I'll take six cans."

"Sorry Aaron you're on your own tonight, Marlon's invited me over to his tonight, he thinks he can beat me at Scrabble but he doesn't know that I was part of a Scrabble club in school. I was the undefeated champion in my year, so I can't wait to see that little smirk on his face when I bring out the big words. See the trick to Scrabble is -"

"Paddy", Aaron cut him off, as he had no interest in Scrabble whatsoever, "Have I ever told you you're the coolest person ever", he sneered. Paddy rolled his eyes and took out his wallet.

"Here's a tenner. Why don't you buy Scarlett and yourself a drink at the Woolie tonight."

"Not going", Aaron replied sourly.

"Why", Paddy demanded, assuming all of the youngsters in Emmerdale got along.

"Because! I don't like her, and she's really tall."

"Right whatever. Then why don't you head into town or something mate, but do something. Anyway I'm off to kick Marlon's ass." Paddy made a karate noise and then slammed the door behind him.

Aaron's face turned condescending. He had money, wasn't in work tomorow and everybody was going to be more or less in the Woolie tonight. With that he headed up to his room and tried on several shirts before picking the right one.

* * *

"You look very casual for a work meeting, don't ya think?" Jackson's flatmate said as he plonked his microwavable curry dish onto the table.

"That's been rescheduled", Jackson said, buttoning up his red and white checkered t-shirt, "Some idiot poured coffee on the guy I was meeting, anyway, long story short, he had to push each of his meetings back a place and lucky me, got rescheduled for tomorow. But I'm not complaining cause at least now I can head out."

"Won't you have to get up early in the morning for the meeting now?"

"Yup, unfortunately, but I'm not planning on staying the whole night, just gonna have a beer or two and play pool with the regulars, and maybe any new fitties if I see any," Jackson winked.

"Haha, you gonna try the new gay bar down the road?"

"I wanted to, but Freddy and George are insisting we go to Bar West as usual, because we know the crowd there. Normally I'd object but I didn't feel like it tonight. I figured I'd just go with other people's plans, you know?" With that, his flatmate waved him off as he departed the flat and headed towards Bar West, meeting up with two of his mates along the way.

* * *

There it stood, Bar West, in front of him. Aaron was finding it hard to take it in but he knew he had to. Especially because he was standing across the road staring at it like a freak. Any people passing by would think he's demented. He swallowed many gulps in his throat, taking steps forawrd, and then some steps back. Fate had brought him this far, he couldn't turn back now, he wanted to do this, despite the overwhelming fear in his head and his heart beating away like a yoyo. He just reminded himself of what he had said to himself in the kitchen. Tonight was a good night to do this. Even if he only stayed for an hour. Just see what it was like, what kind of people go, if it is tolerable and you never know, maybe the music would be good.

Aaron swallowed another lump in his throat and clenched his jaw. Now, three lads had just entered, a black guy in a black coat, a white guy in a white coat, and a slightly tanned, tall lad, with curlyish hair, donning a red and white checkered shirt. He was the most prominent out of the three lads Aaron had just spotted. They didn't look too gay, did they? Well, only one way to find out, he said to himself.

With his heart beating rapidly and his head screaming many things at him, he walked quickly over to the gay bar, so that no one would see him, and so that he couldn't turn back. He pushed open the door gently and took his first step inside a gay bar. He made it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Aaron went straight for the bar and sat as far on the left side as possible, as that was the least populated area. It was still too early for him to engage people and he wasn't a very engaging person in general anyway. He thought coming into a gay bar would answer all his questions, it would be an ideal place, like a sacred sanctuary for gay people, but that wasn't the case. He was uncomfortable and his paranoia levels were building up rapidly. The woman behind the counter was taken aback when he ordered a pint of beer, and he was certain that everyone also sitting along the bar were staring at him. During the brief moments he shook off his paranoia, he looked around the bar to see if there was anyone that he wouldn't mind talking to, although sitting behind a giant pillar that clouded most of his view of the bar didn't help. Aaron couldn't resign himself to having feelings for anyone here, whether he was purposely holding back, or there was genuinly just no one decent, he didn't know.

"Yes!" Jackson's opponent cheered, signalling another loss for Jackson. For Jackson and his mates, pool was played as a drinking game, and when you lost a game, you had to drink a plethora of alcohol. Jackson started out the night with the intention of not drinking, but of course was convinced otherwise. As he started to loosen up, he told his mate to request a song, as the current music playing was "rubbish". His drunken friend stumbled over to the DJ and had him put on the newest Lady Gaga song, to which he got up on a table and started reincating the dance to. Seeing as Jackson was the most sober, he had to help his friend down off the table before something bad happened. Jackson grabbed his mate's legs and lifted him off the table, as he wasn't terribly heavy, and Jackson was quite strong, and helped him to the ground, but on doing so, his mate fell forward and spilled his pint down Jackson's back.

"Aww thanks a lot mate, me back is ringing", he moaned, but his mate just laughed and stumbled off.

"Ugh Lady Gaga, what shite", Aaron mumbled to himself. He was going to get another drink to help his confidence but used the song as an excuse to go the bathroom, to break away from the atmosphere of the bar for a while. He assumed the toilets would be quieter but alas he was mistaken. Two guys were kissing in the only cubicle so Aaron was forced to take a leak at one of the urinals. When a middle aged man came over and used the urinal beside Aaron, he panicked, and quickly zipped up his jeans.

"Don't stop on my account", the man winked, but that just further unsettled Aaron. The cubicle was now free so he ran in there and locked the door, trying to regather his thoughts, and his sanity.

He sat on the toilet, face in hands, for about seven minutes, and when the place fell silent, he decided to make a run for it. He went to the sinks, washed his hands and rubbed water on his face. Suddenly, the door flew open with the sound of two people talking, masculine voices actually, something which Aaron hadn't heard much of tonight. He was still rubbing his eyes with his wet hands but he jumped up when the sound of the hand dryer startled him. Aaron froze momentarily. Two guys were stood beside it, the black guy he had seen entering the pub earlier talking to the checkered shirt guy who was now holding his shirt in his hands underneath the dryer while his fantastically toned body was on show for Aaron to see. His heart skipped a beat, then another. When this man looked at him he looked away quickly, not wanting to seem wierd. This was the first time Aaron had felt this all night. He felt attracted to the man, but these feelings were still a little hazy in his head.

"Its alright, you can look if you want", Jackson said, nudging his head towards his body when he noticed Aaron staring. However he didn't quite get the reaction he wanted. Aaron's eyes widened and he raced out of the toilets. He didn't know what to do. Was that guy flirting? Was he meant to flirt back? How would he do that.

Aaron wanted to leave but at the same time he wanted to stay. He wanted to wait until he saw this man clothed, and see if he felt the same way. Someone had taken his seat by the bar so he sat down in the only empty seat - by the pool table of course.

Jackson came out of the bathroom, shirt now on again, and resumed his game of pool with his friends. Aaron was sat only feet away from him, and couldn't help take his eyes off of him, although he managed to look away whenever the man looked over in his direction.

"Come on Jackson, you have to pull tonight", one of his mates teased. His friends were all preoccupied by other guys now and Jackson was starting to feel the lonliness.

"There has to be someone here you like, or you want to get stuck in with, right?". The question prompted Jackson to eye up the bar, scoping out any potential candidates. His back was faced to Aaron and he was about to give up when he heard a phone ring behind him. Normally you couldn't hear mobiles but it was inbetween songs where the DJ was making announcement about cheap drinks on Friday nights, so the place was momentarily silent.

Aaron's face reddened. Typical timing. He jabbed away at the buttons of his phone in his pocket trying to make it stop, and eventually did just as he pulled it out. A few eyes were now on him which didn't help his paranoia. It was a text from Victoria. He hid his face in the text to hide himself from the eager eyes of the Bar West crowd, but when he finally read the text, he realised Victoria was just rambling on about how scared she is for her GCSEs, which Aaron wasn't bothered to reply to, well not now anyway. With the intention to write back eventually, he placed the phone on his coat beside him, instead of putting it back in his pocket.

Jackson's mates noticed him eyeing Aaron up and urged him to make a move, but Jackson was a little underconfident, especially as the confidence the alcohol gave him was wearing off at this stage. He made an agreement with one of his mates though, that if he lost another game of pool, he would have to pluck up the courage to talk to the awkward lad on his own behind them. His nerves got the best of him during the game but him and his opponent levelled themselves down to the final ball together. Jackson had a pretty easy shot to take, but when he heard a loud sneeze from behind him, just as he was taking the shot, he jumped and messed up his shot, resulting in not putting the ball. Jackson turned around to give him a look as if to say "thanks for making me mess up the shot".

Aaron's cheeks blushed as he tried to keep his sneeze quiet but failed miserably. He saw a man at the bar staring him up with a disgusted face which made Aaron grin and laugh to himself. On doing so, he looked up to see the checkered shirt man staring back at him, making a face at him which he couldn't work out, but then he noticed that the man's expression changed to a smile because he thought Aaron was smiling at him. Once again Aaron blushed and buried his head in his pint.

Jackson's mate finished the game off with a fell swoop of the pool cue causing Jackson to lose the game, and the agreement he had made. He swallowed a lump in his throat and turned around to the guy behind him.

"Fancy a game?" He said lifting up the cue. Aaron's eyes widened again.

"Er, sorry, I can't." His hands and lip began to tremble now. His heart was beating too fast for him to think rationally.

"Come on, what harm will it do?" Jackson pressed, hoping for a positive answer, but he got the complete opposite. Aaron jolted up, jacket in hand and uttered the word "sorry" as he shot past Jackson for the door. Oblivious to Aaron, his phone rolled off his jacket when he picked it up and it was now sitting in Jackson's palm. Jackson tried to chase after him but Aaron was out of there like a light. Suddenly, the phone vibrated in Jackson's hand and he accidently opened the message.

From: Paddy. 23:45; Hey Aaron, I'm home now so don't forget to lock up when you come back.

Obviously this "Paddy" lived with Aaron, so Jackson hit the reply button and left Paddy a message about the phone.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Luckily for Aaron, he woke up late again, probably because he was awake until the early hours lost in his thoughts. Now, he was able to get out of bed and use being late for work as an excuse to go straight to work without having to answer Paddy's continuous questioning about the previous night. As far as Aaron was concerned, he just wanted to forget about it.

He rushed out the door, escaping Paddy's "There you are sleepyhead". Paddy wasn't surprised tough, Aaron wasn't a morning person, especially if he was out last night and probably had a hangover. Aaron got to work at ten on the dot, meaning he wasn't late, especially because his shift didn't start for another three hours as a result of him switching shifts with Ryan yesterday, but amidst the whole Bar West ordeal and his thoughts and insecurities conflicting in his head, he had forgotten about that. With no other choice, he decided to head back home. Paddy should be in the surgeory by now anyway.

Aaron walked up the road, hand in pockets and head facing the ground. He kicked a stone all the way from the garage up the road, but stopped when he was taken aback by what he saw. A blue van was parked outside Smithy. Aaron didn't recognise the van but he did recognise the owner. He saw the man he had met in Bar West standing at his front door talking to Paddy. How the hell did he know where Aaron lived? Why was he there? And what was he saying to Paddy? Surely the cat is out of the bag now, Paddy knows everything, and soon everyone will, there is no other explanation. With Aaron's heart throbbing in his chest and his brains throbbing in his head, he punched the wall of Viv's shop in anger and fear, which cut his knuckles. Once he shook off the pain, he ran as far away from Smithy as he could, which was actually only just a bit down the road.

"Thanks very much" Paddy said, gesturing Jackson a thumbs up and taking the phone off him, "Aaron's always losing this. Muppet. It was very kind of you to come by and drop this off."

"Well to be honest I'm really in the village because I have a meeting with an employer which was meant to be yesterday but got moved to this morning. Guess Aaron was just lucky that everything fell into place then."

"You're right. Thanks so much. I'll make sure he gets this"

"No problem, would you mind giving him my number too?" Jackson took out a torn corner of a piece of paper from his pocket with his number on it and 'Jackson' written at the top.

"Yeah sure thing. I thought he already knew you?"

"Nope. Just met him last night in town and that was it. Seemed like a nice bloke though. Anyway I best be off. Take care." Jackson said, waving Paddy off as he returned to his van.

"Yeah, yeah, see ya" Paddy waved, as he stared at the paper in front of him. Jackson - he seemed nice. The kind of friend Aaron could use. Paddy would be sure to make Aaron call him and thank him. People like Jackson are hard to come across and he would be a great influence on Aaron.

As Aaron leaned on the gate, which marked the start of a wide open field, he could see the infamous blue van driving by on the road way ahead of him. So he was gone. But did it matter? Paddy obviously knew, which means he couldn't go back to Smithy now. Not ever. Paddy had probably already told Pearl which means the whole village knew. So what, was he just to run away? He didn't see why not. Aaron is always known for making rash decisions. The only problem is he'd have to sneak back into Smithy to get his things.

The door let out a creeking noise as Aaron slowly slid the door open. His face cringed the whole way through as he failed at not making noise. He made it in anyway, and was about to rush up the stairs, when Paddy came through the kitchen door.

"Ah, there you are. Something you wanna tell me?", he said, with a wink. Aaron's face dropped. That was it, he did know. His head was screaming at him telling him just to run, but he was frozen in place at the thought of Paddy knowing.

"Well," Paddy pushed, "Why didn't you tell me. Was it so I wouldn't think any worse of you?" Aaron began to mumble nonsense now. He could feel tears building up in his eyes and he was about to break out into a plea for Paddy to stay quiet, but Paddy got the first words.

"Well don't worry. I already know you're an irresponsible git", Paddy laughed, chucking Aaron his phone, "There, you left it in town last night you plonker. You should have told me you lost it, I could have been ringing you." Relief flooded Aaron's face. But it wasn't over yet. Aaron still didn't know for certain if Paddy knew or not.

"Good thing for that mate of yours you made last night, he returned it in one piece. That was nice of him."

"Yeah, well he's just a mate. Its what people do." Aaron retorted, ever so defensively.

"And here, told me to give you his number. I want you to call him say thanks"

"No chance". Aaron had already taken the paper but now he scrunched it up.

"Aaron, that bloke did a nice thing. The least you can do is send him a text."

"I'm not texting him!" Aaron demanded.

"Yes you are and I don't care what you say. Now make yourself scarce. I wanna do this place up for Marlon and Rhona coming over tonight."

"Again, so you guys will be hogging this place again?"

"Well there are plenty of other places to go Aaron", Paddy chuckled, and walked back out into the sitting room to set the place up. Aaron repeated Paddy's last words in a mocking voice, then stared at the scrunched ball of paper in his hand momentarily, before deciding to chuck in the bin.

* * *

"What is with you and your phone. You've been checking it every few minutes", Jackson's flatmate pointed out to a now blushing Jackson.

"No I amn't" he responded, going even redder in the cheecks. His flatmate made a huge grin and then looked at him for a few seconds with a teasing grin before saying: "It's a boy".

"No its not", Jackson said shyly.

"Ah it is. Whats his name. What age is he. What does he look like".

"Forget it" Jackson said, getting up off the couch and grabbing his coat, "I'm going out".

"To meet your booooyfrieend", his flatmate teased, making Jackson blush even more. He winked back at his flatmate and said "Hope so", and closed the door behind him.

* * *

Aaron stomped down the stairs and sighed at the sound of Paddy, Marlon and Rhona laughing their heads off in the other room. He walked in with a sulky face.

"Ooh don't you look smart" a slightly tipsy Paddy commented. "Look at you with your white shirt and jeans. You meeting a girl?" That line made Aaron cringe in his head.

"Well he's not gonna pull a girl with a face like a smacked bottom" Marlon added, to which he and Paddy laughed.

"Oh no no, don't mind them Aaron, you look smart," Rhona smiled. Aaron ignored all of their comments.

"Right, anyway I'm off to the pub to meet Adam, don't wait up." As he walked back out he got a text from Adam.

From: Adam, 21:27;  
Alri m8, Scarletts bringin a m8. She's well fit and Scarlett can set ya up. Dress nice man!

Aaron looked disappointed. He just wanted a night out with a mate. Now Adam was going to try and set him up with a girl. The thought of that made Aaron's heart beat faster in panic. He looked beside him and noticed the practically empty bin, with the scrunched paper in it. Aaron pulled it out and opened it up, revealing the number. He stared at the paper for a while, pondering what to do, until suddenly he decided to save the number to his phone.

* * *

Once again he walked fast from the bus stop. Who cares if no one he knew was around, he didn't want people seeing him going into the gay bar. He kept his head down too, but raised it when he bumped into a taller man at the door, a familiar man.

"Well well, wasn't expecting to see you here", Jackson lied.

"I'm not heading in here, I'm going to a different club." Aaron also lied.

"Oh yeah, what one?", Jackson smiled and Aaron failed to think of a club name so accepted defeat with a facial expression.

"Its okay you know. People in here are friendly. Some are even nice looking", he winked.

"You don't get it. I'm not like you. I'm not like _that_."

"What, you mean gay?" Aaron looked around as if someone had heard Jackson say that. He didn't respond.

"Right well eh, you have fun out here then, and I'll be inside. If you pick up the courage to come inside I'll even buy you a pint. If not, you have my number."

"No I don't, binned it", Aaron retored quickly.

"Oh, right. Well here", Jackson pulled a card out of his pocket, it was a work card labelled jacksonwalshconstructions, with his number underneath. "Feel free to call me or text me. I wouldn't mind", Jackson said, winking at him and then going inside.

Aaron stared at the card then threw it in the bin. He already had his number anyway. He couldn't go inside now. Not after that. Not after he made a fool of himself in front of Jackson. He was insecure enough as it was, he didn't need that, so he willingly went back to the bus stop and got the bus home. He had to admit though, the whole way home all he could think about was his encounter with Jackson. Jackson was so calm, and so manly. How can he do that? Shouldn't he be insecure like Aaron is? He wish he knew Jackson's secret and finding out was only a text away. A text he so badly wanted to send, because it was someone to talk to, someone with experience and who is decent enough to just talk and be friendly, but he couldn't manage to press the buttons. His mind wouldn't let them.

Stropping through the Smithy doors, he was greeted by Paddy who was getting a beer out of the fridge. The first thing he noticed was Aaron's scratched nuckles from when he punched the wall earlier.

"What happened to you!" he said, his voice filled with worry.

"What? Oh, eh, nothing, just grazed it off a wall."

"You're lying to me. You got in a fight didn't you?"

"No! Why do you always think the worst in me?"

"Because I know ya! Aaron you have to stop the fighting. You're not going to have any mates."

"I didn't hit anyone!" Aaron exclaimed, desperately trying to make Paddy believe the truth, but he wouldn't. Aaron ignored him and went up to his room to strop some more. Typical Paddy. He didn't understand. He wouldn't. No one would. Well, not neccissarilly.

He took out his phone, went to send message and added Jackson's name. His heart was already racing and he hadn't even done anything. He didn't know what to do. Would this be a stupid idea? Would it be stupid to text a guy who could help Aaron, who could guide him and could just talk to him? Someone who would understand Aaron and someone who Aaron so obviously had feelings for that even he could admit it to himself silently. Well, I guess that answered his question. He looked down at his phone and started typing.

"Hi. Its Aaron. Just wanted to say thanks for returning my phone. Really appreciate it and sorry about earlier. Hope I haven't scared you off."


End file.
